It is a red carpet night at the Mediolanum Forum: Real Madrid is coming to town for a historical game (to a certain degree symbolized by the “Sandro Gamba Night” celebrated at the half) which is important nowadays too, since Real Madrid is second in the standing and Olimpia is sitting in third position. The Spanish team has lost only to the league-leaders of Barcelona in its last eight games, Olimpia has won its last two games and won both games against Real Madrid during the last season. The level of difficulty is extreme, even if Olimpia is 7-1 at home. The defense will be called upon to perform at a very high level consistent with the one expressed against Panathinaikos: the 54 points allowed to the opponent represent the second-best effort of the season and the sixth ever in the EuroLeague. Milan has won nine games allowing less than 74 points, has won one with 74 points allowed and has lost one more at 74. It is clear what the magic number is, even if it applies to both teams. Olimpia has the best defense (71.67 points allowed on average), but Real Madrid has the second-best (72.13). Real Madrid is also the team that has won the most games by double-digit margins, seven. On the road it lost in Piraeus, Kazan and lately at Barcelona. The team will not have Coach Pablo Laso on the bench and will not have Thomas Heurtel on the court, both isolated by Covid. Alberto Abalde, Carlos Alocen and Trey Thompkins are also out due to injury, but Anthony Randolph has returned. Guerschon Yabusele did not play against Alba for precautionary reasons but he is in Milan with the team. But so far injuries and absences have not stopped one of the great favorites of this EuroLeague. Tip-off time will be 20:30 on December 16.

COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “It will be a special night for us because we face a great team, a serious candidate for the final win, and at the same time we pay respect to one of the greatest players in our history, Sandro Gamba, so we are particularly keen to do well. Despite the absences – and I take this opportunity to wish Coach Laso and Thomas Heurtel a speedy recovery -, Real Madrid is proving to be an extremely competitive team, physical, with a presence of great impact like Tavares, not only defensively but also offensively. Controlling the tempo, the rebounds and moving the ball well offensively will once again be the fundamental aspects of our game.”

SERGIO RODRIGUEZ – “We are playing a very difficult game, against one of the teams playing better in the EuroLeague. They are very strong inside, not only because of Tavares, so we know that a very challenging game awaits us.”

REAL MADRID – They have won seven of their last eight EuroLeague games and their only defeat came at Barcelona, on the road. Clearly, they are a strong team that has not suffered in the slightest way from the absences of Trey Thompkins, Anthony Randolph and recently Alberto Abalde. There are three players who always start the games, the wing Adam Hanga (5.7 points per game, 40.7 percent from three), one of the best defenders of the competition, the French power forward Guerschon Yabusele (12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds on average), who was out during the last round, and center Walter Tavares (12.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks per game Thomas Heurtel and Fabien Causeur normally start at the guards, but the former won’t be available, while Causeur is a veteran who converts over 41 percent from three and scores 8.7 points per game. Nigel Williams-Goss, who returned after an injury, averages 8.1 points per game off the bench as the great Sergio Llull (5.8 points, 2.2 assists per game) and Rudy Fernandez (5.1 points, 3.0 rebounds per game). Juan Nunez and Jefferey Taylor complete the perimeter rotation. Among the bigs, Vincent Poirier also stands out (7.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 64.1 percent shooting from two). Mateo Chus will coach the team.

HISTORY VS. REAL MADRID – In European competitions Olimpia Milan and Real Madrid have met 34 times, with Real Madrid leading 23-11 the all-time series. Real had a streak of 14 consecutive wins interrupted in Milan, last season, a 78 -70 Olimpia win, with 25 points from Sergio Rodriguez and 17 from Shavon Shields. Real Madrid-Olimpia awarded the European Cup in 1967 in Madrid and the Cup Winners’ Cup in Ostend in 1984: in both circumstances, Real won. This game has been played 17 times in Madrid. Milan has won twice. The first win in Madrid dates back to the 2003/04 Uleb Cup. The game finished 62-61 (11 Lonnie Cooper and Claudio Coldebella; Antonis Fotsis made 19 for Real) for Olimpia. The second dates back to the last season, 80-76 with 17 points from Sergio Rodriguez and 14 from Malcolm Delaney. 15 times the game was played in Milan (9-7 Olimpia). Once on a neutral court (Ostend). Real Madrid won its first European Cup in 1964 by beating Spartak Brno in the final after losing the championship game in two consecutive years. In those years, it won the title four times in a five-year span, the only exception being 1966 when Olimpia (which Real had eliminated in the 1964 semifinals) was the only exception. Real was eliminated in the equivalent of the quarterfinals by Olimpia: in Madrid, Emiliano Rodriguez scored 20 points and Real Madrid won 71-66, but at Palalido, Simmenthal played a prodigious game, won 93-76 with 40 points scored by Gabriele Vianello and 27 from Bill Bradley. So, Olimpia qualified for the Final Four where it defeated CSKA Moscow and then Slavia Prague in the historic championship game in Bologna on April 1, 1966. The following season Real Madrid and Olimpia Milano met again in the championship game, and Real Madrid prevailed 91-83 (29 Emiliano; Red Robbins scored 32 points).

THE REAL MADRID CONNECTION – Sergio Rodriguez played for Real Madrid for six seasons, returning from the NBA and before moving to Philadelphia. Over these six seasons he has won the EuroLeague championship in 2015, he was the MVP of the competition in 2014, won the Spanish title three times, the King’s Cup four times, the Spanish Super Cup three times. Twice he has won the assist crown in the Spanish league. In 2018/19, with CSKA Moscow, he beat Real Madrid in the semifinals on the way to his second European title. Ettore Messina coached Real Madrid for nearly two years with a 23-13 record in the EuroLeague. Among his players during that period, he had Sergio Llull and as well as Sergio Rodriguez.

GAME NOTES – Sergio Rodriguez has scored 520 threes during his career and thus has definitively overtaken Vassilis Spanoulis and is second ever in the category. Sitting in fourth place with 517 threes, very close, there is Rudy Fernandez. Sergio Llull is fifth. So, it will be a game featuring between three of the greatest long-distance shooters in history. With 851 points, Rodriguez became the third-best scorer ever in the EuroLeague for Olimpia, second in the modern era behind Vlado Micov. Rodriguez has made at least two threes in his last five outings and at least one in nine of his last 10. Kyle Hines has scored 1,142 two-point field goals over his career and is now in second place ahead of Ante Tomic (1,137). Finally, Rodriguez and Llull during their careers have scored 3,277 and 3,278 points respectively and are perpetually competing for the fifth and sixth place ever.

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